Features

Skepta is finally getting some recognition in the U.S., thanks to co-signs from rap's two biggest stars, Drake and Kanye West. Yeezy brought him out, and publicly thanked him, during his "All Day" performance, and Drake used one of his lines, and also thanked him, on his latest mixtape. Though he doesn't need a co-sign from anyone, the increased attention has put more worldwide hype on the London...

Business moves quick, and that's no exception for the rap world. From the hottest new signings, to movie deals, to album pushbacks, the industry is constantly in motion. It can be hard to keep up with at times, so we've consolidated all of the must-hear information from the past month, all in one place. Be on the look out for this monthly recap of news-worthy items you may have missed to stay...

Our latest guest on Behind The Beat is Atlanta's Brandon Thomas, who just celebrated his 20th birthday. You may know him as the name behind the instantly recognizable "U Guessed It" beat. "U Guessed It" first appeared on Give Em Hell, a joint EP between OG Maco and Key!, and then Maco replaced Key! with 2 Chainz for the single release. The creepily simple piano melody has since been freestyled...

Jay Electronica is a strange cat. The New Orleans-born MC now resides in London, where very few rappers decide to claim home. He's released music sporadically throughout his 11 year career, failing to deliver a long-awaited full-length project despite signing to Roc Nation MGMT and rapping alongside the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean and Jay Z.He has released some classic material, though, and...

We'll be seeing a lot of Drake on Charts Don't Lie for the foreseeable future. The rapper dominated the Billboard 200 last week, and after getting bumped from #1 by Imagine Dragons' new album, he's sitting comfy at #2, moving over 150k in his second week. It's a difficult feat for most rappers to move that much their first week out, let alone their second week. The Toronto rapper also broke a...

Have you ever scrolled through Instagram and instantly bursted into uncontrollable laughter? Raised your eyebrow? Scratched your head? Instantly smiled? Thought, "Damn. That's dope."? Stared at your phone? Did an instant repost? HNHH is sure you've answered yes to at least one of those questions.
Because so many people are out in the streets flexin' and doing it for the gram, hip-hop artists...

Kanye wept. Drake reigned. Dark Sky Paradise happened. This week in hip-hop can be summarized in those three tersely worded sentences. It makes sense because this week has been weird everywhere else. There's something going about a dress and llamas. Hip-hop was a small bubble this week, but it's still an existing bubble. So, of course, we got that 140 Bars Or...

Recently, we felt our childhood selves get pimp slapped back to reality with the forthcoming allegations that MTV's "Pimp My Ride" is guilty of deceiving both its viewers and contestants. The monitors on the back of each headrest rarely worked, high-tech contraptions were added just for TV, and contestant reactions were exaggerated. Indeed, some were even prepared for Xzibit's arrival at their...

Yesterday, amid flamethrower bursts and a gaggle of up-and-coming grime artists, Kanye West debuted the third song we've heard from his upcoming album thus far. The confrontational, hard-hitting "All Day" ran counter to its two almost drum-less predecessors, "Only One" and "Wolves," and got the sub-section of Kanye fans who were displeased with those first two offerings back into an excited...

Critics are always fighting conflicting urges. On the one hand, there's the need to be objective and evaluate each work on its own merits. On the other, there's the desire to fit each new release from an artist into an over-arcing career narrative. The trick is to find a balance between the two.
This is especially hard to do with Big Sean, largely because his story so far has been one of success...

Last month we took a look at Nate Dogg's dopest features, but the late legend put out some incredible work of his own too. We felt it was only right to take a look at 10 originals Nate Dogg put out, including ones released by 213, his group with Snoop Dogg and Warren G.
Nate Dogg released three albums in addition to that 213 LP, each with a sound of its own. Of course Nate Dogg was best known...

Dark Sky Paradise dropped earlier this week, with Big Sean set to move just under 150,000 copies, and now comes time to break it down on "Samples Of The Week." Although the album is a bit darker and more modern-sounding than Hall Of Fame and Finally Famous, it still makes use of some dope samples, with producers Kanye West and Key Wane digging some gold out of the crates. We already covered...

We've reached a day and age when a new Kanye West interview is an event in and of itself. Thanks in part to his iconic "George Bush hates black people" quip in 2005 and a pair of headline-worthy outbursts two years ago, Mr. West now commands millions of peoples' attention every time he makes an appearance on a talk show, even when the discussion centers on something as inconsequential as a...

Yesterday, we learned that Donald Glover might not be calling himself Childish Gambino for much longer. As that's the only rap name we know him by, this came as a bit of a shock, but it's far from the first surprising move of his career. Ever the unconventional MC, Gambino is always throwing people for a loop, whether due to unexpected collaborations, attention-getting soundbites from...

After months of singles, promotion and interviews, yesterday marked the release of Big Sean's hotly-anticipated third album, Dark Sky Paradise. Packing in tons of witty wordplay, Sean Don made what is probably the best album of his young career, and now comes the time to break the whole deluxe edition down in a new edition of "By The Numbers."
This time, in addition to lyrics, we look at the...

Here it is, our weekly rundown of the best of our Top 20.
Please keep in mind this list was culled from the top of our charts, so more popular artists are more likely to be represented. For a look at under-the-radar tracks, check out Underrated Audio.
This week was taken over by Big Sean and the City of Atlanta. The top of our chart's features a number of tracks from the Detroit native and the...